The VAPESTICK MAX Electronic Cigarette

The VAPESTICK MAX

Electronic Cigarette

Vapestick sent me their ‘Flagship model’ to review, it’s a VAPESTICK MAX e-cigarette! Here are my thoughts and observations on this rather unusual bit of smoking/vaping kit.

First of all, the very basic facts! If you order one of these you get a very large 550mAH battery and a longer atomiser chamber than in other products in Vapestick’s range. You also get very comprehensive contents which include 10 assorted refill cartridges, 2 atomisers, 2 rechargeable batteries, 1 wall charger, one USB charger, one V card, one velvet carry pouch, one user manual and a partridge in a pear tree. Honest. You might have to pay extra for the partridge and the pear tree though….

I don’t want to baffle you with the technicalities of this cigarette, you can find all of them on their product information page which you can view HERE if you’re interested.

Secondly, here’s what it looks like!

I’ve put a roll up cigarette next to it for scale. The Vapestick Max is about twice the size and packs a punch to match.

Please do take time to appreciate the simply beautiful ashtray I inherited from my grandma when she died. I love it. I’m almost sad I’ve given up smoking so I don’t get chance to use it. Mind you, it’s far too pretty to fill with ash I suppose!

There is a small button in the middle band of the e-cigarette that you can’t see too clearly here, this is depressed (poor love, must remember to give it a pep-talk) every time you take a drag to deliver a ‘smoother’ hit than you get in other Vapestick models.

Thirdly, this is how it fits together:

Looking at this from the left, you slide the first three sections together and then cover the third section with the bit that looks like a pen top on the right. Sounds complicated, but it isn’t really. It’s just the way I tell ’em!

Right now, you might be thinking, well that’s a bit complicated, but take a look at the amount of equipment you need if you smoke roll ups.

See what I mean? A Vapestick really is quite easy to put together in comparison. It took me years to learn how to roll a cigarette and I’m still rubbish at it – I learnt how to assemble a Max Vapestick in about 30 seconds.

My initial impressions were quite honestly ‘Wow!’ Vapestick have invested a lot of time and thought into their packaging and presentation. This model arrives in a sturdy cardboard box, nicely branded, each separate part of the e-cigarette is set in a precisely modelled bit of foam. It’s all colour co-ordinated and very, very swish! The Vapestick Max I received was in chrome with a black filter, although they do also come in all white with a silver band or all black with a silver band. The appearance really appealed to my magpie-like love of all things shiny.

This is the design range of the Vapestick Max. The chrome one I use is very reminiscent of a really big battery.

So what’s it like to vape one of these? I’ll give you a straightforward answer. It’s a bit odd. The size is comparable to that of a cigar, and I’ve never smoked cigars, I’m just not that kinda gal. I’m used to roll ups and occasionally ‘proper’ fags as they’re called in these ‘ere parts. It seems rather ungainly, but I suppose I am a woman and have typically small hands. The balance is just right though, I don’t feel like it’s tipping out of my hand when I vape with it, which is good.

I much prefer my other Vapestick XL for its size and shape, which I reviewed a while ago, although there’s no comparison when it comes to battery life and the quality of the actual vape. I think it’s just that the Vapestick XL looks more like a cigarette, it’s as simple as that. It’s also a lot quieter compared to the Max. I hate hearing myself inhale, it sounds like when you leave the gas on the hob unignited – not that I make a habit of doing that! Like someone going ‘Shhhhhh….’ maybe.

My Vapestick XL review is HERE if you’d like to know more about that particular product.

The Max does have a much smoother draw though and the cartridges and the batteries last so much longer, plus they don’t seem to end up with that nasty bitter taste when they run out of e-liquid in the cartridges like the XL does. They are much less hassle and I don’t find myself having to recharge my cigarette as much or go rooting for extra cartridges all the time. The Max is very pleasant to vape compared to the XL, it’s just as easy to assemble and lasts twice as long. The main problem is:

IT’S TOO BIG AND PEOPLE STARE AT ME!

This is not the time to be making dodgy Jimmy Savile jokes is it…

So there you have it. I smoke the Max at home when people don’t look at me as if I’m taking drugs in a public place. I suspect people would look twice at me if I went down the street smoking a cigar on a regular basis too, maybe if I was a man I could carry it off, but as a woman I feel a bit of a numpty with one of these.

As you can see, when the button is depressed the button itself glows as does the tip. I wonder what it looks like when it is happy? Perhaps it does rainbow colours? (before Vapestick jump all over me I’m just ‘avin a larf!’ and this is the only colour it actually glows).

My final thought. I wish they could combine the XL and the Max somehow. Both have plusses and minuses and I do genuinely think it’s actually worth having both of them to vape on, although that is obviously a little pricey. Another thing worth mentioning is that the button at the top of the Max is easily depressed if you leave it in your pocket, which isn’t great – but if you’re ever caught in a powercut the Max doubles nicely as a mini nicotine dosing torch.

I could go on about the benefits of vaping and maybe some of the negatives (ie. I now have a huge nicotine addiction even though I’m no longer smoking) but I suspect I may be boring you. Please do ask any questions you may have in the comments box below, I’ll be happy to answer any of them to the best of my ability.

If you would like your own Vapestick Max they’re on offer for £49.99 HERE, reduced from £54.99. If you’re a heavy vaper/smoker they’re undoubtably your best option, although I suspect they’ll probably appeal more to men, but that might be a sexist thing to say.

I was sent a Vapestick Max to chug on, no other financial reward was given. You can find their website HERE.

2 responses to “The VAPESTICK MAX Electronic Cigarette”

Hey, cracking review that 🙂 my MAX is she tomorrow, I am aware the XL isn’t as good and doesn’t have such a powerful throat hit as the MAX but I liked the idea of having the MAX for home and work, and the XL for the pub ect. Will the cartomisers for the MAX for the XL?

Thanks for the feedback Mark! Much appreciated. I know the old style cartomisers were different for the Max and the XL so you couldn’t interchange them. I’m not sure about the new ones they’ve just brought out though, although I suspect they won’t be interechangeable either to be honest.
You could always tweet them to find out? They’re @Vapestick on Twitter and I’ve always found them to be very helpful. Sorry I can’t give you much more info than that at the moment. Please feel free to drop by the blog again, I like to keep up to date with the products they have on offer and I write about other random stuff too :O)